


Articulated

by ShinyKipp



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: But Mostly Smut, Canon Trans Character, Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, F/M, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Multiple Orgasms, PWP, because they've got 48 years of catching up to do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 05:00:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15478212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinyKipp/pseuds/ShinyKipp
Summary: The Starblaster room is small, but the only space he really needs is what’s between her arms.The door shuts softly behind him, and Lup’s arms wind over his shoulders for the dozenth time that night as she pins him with another look.This one melts his conviction into something molten and warm that pools in his gut.It’s been a long time.





	Articulated

**Author's Note:**

> A while back, my gf was kind enough to beta "Articulate" for me. When she got to the end, she said "I knew you would write the smut!" The joke was on her, because that's a fluffy fic that _doesn't_ have gratuitous porn.
> 
> Now the joke is on me, because I wrote the smut. 
> 
> ((This takes place immediately after [Articulate](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13922760); which you don't _need_ to have read, but I would appreciate it all the same!  <3 ))
> 
> ((Lup is socially and physically transitioned in this one.))

The Starblaster room is small, but the only space he really needs is what’s between her arms.

The door shuts softly behind him, and Lup’s arms wind over his shoulders for the dozenth time that night as she pins him with another  _ look. _

This one melts his conviction into something molten and warm that pools in his gut.

It’s been a long time.

She holds his gaze while she plucks at his bowtie, but the knot coming loose doesn't make it any easier to breathe. 

Without thinking too much, Barry lets his hands find the zipper on her dress.

He pulls it down slowly, and his gaze flicks from her eyes to her lips to the strip of skin he exposes.

She steps away, all poise and grace, and shrugs the gown from her shoulders. She turns around then, stepping out of the shimmering, gauzy fabric, and reaches behind her back. 

Lup unhooks her bra with one hand, pulls her curtain of hair over her shoulder with the other, and slowly turns to face him.

Barry knows the set of her jaw, sees the hard edge of nerves set against determination in her unwavering gaze, and he’s briefly amused that he noticed _ that _ before his eyes dart down. 

He’s seen the whole crew in various states of undress, of course, it’s been decades, but Lup is  _ Lup  _ and context is everything. 

Her skin looks soft. 

Barry reaches for her before he gives himself time to think, hands touching her hips and gliding up over the sharp V of her hipbones and over the paunch of fat below her belly button. 

He pauses under her breasts for just a moment before taking them in the palms of his hands. Watching Lup intently, he squeezes her softly and steps a little closer.

Her nerves must go somewhere else, because her pupils get bigger and her lips part with a soft breath. 

“Can you—” he clears his throat, timid for many reasons. “Can you feel that okay, Lup?”

She nods. “Yeah.” 

The way she bites her lip should be illegal.

“Yeah, I can. It’s nice.”

Emboldened, he runs his thumb over her nipple, reveling in her shiver and then  _ delighting  _ in her gasp when he pinches her. 

“Barry!” She exclaims, goosebumps erupting over her shoulders as he tugs on the sensitive bud.

“Oh.” His pulse kicks up a notch, and his name on her lips makes him  _ painfully  _ aware of how hard he is. He drops his lips to her neck and brings one hand around her back to pull her against him. “Oh, I really like the sound of that.”

Lup gasps, and her hands come up to cling to the back of his suit jacket as he kisses across her neck. “Okay, okay, if you’re gonna be smooth, you need to warn me now, Barry.” She shudders when he crosses a place right in front of her pulse, and he takes note. “Also, I, aah—” he sucks at that spot, and  _ fuck _ , she’s shaking. “I can’t help but notice our states of undress here.”

Barry pulls away, running his tongue over his lips. 

He realises that he can taste her, and he’s suddenly dismissing her statement with a “yeah, yeah, one second,” and diving back into her, painting a long swipe up her neck.

“Oh, fuck,” Lup gasps, high and sharp, and she yanks at his clothing. 

She’d scratch him without the jacket, and he suddenly needs to get rid of that, too.

Barry pulls away and breathes heavy. She’s beautiful, she’s beautiful and half-naked and she’s  _ going _ to be all the way naked, and he wants to drop onto his knees and worship her, he wants to press his fingers into her, he wants to make love with her until she quakes and whispers his name like a prayer.

It’s with no small amount of effort that he quiets his mind, hands coming up to his collar and popping one button, two,

three,

Lup watches him now, and he tamps down a flash of insecurity. He’s fine looking, average, but it doesn’t matter that he’s a Regular Dude revealing himself to The Most Beautiful Woman he’s ever known. She says she thinks he’s handsome, and he trusts her, so the last few buttons fall open under his fingers.

She steps close. Her lips part gently and her eyes slide shut as a hand runs through his hair and she kisses him like she means it, hot and open-mouthed and desperate.

He’s always been better at patience, but he feels Lup’s restraint cracking under the weight of the tension between them. 

“Fuck, you look good,” she says, and he feels surprise color his desire. “Barry, you’re gorgeous.” 

Their chests squish together and he’s suddenly tumbling backwards, and if they’d been more mindful they would have landed on the bed. 

Instead, he thuds a little painfully to the floor, but he’s distracted from the sting in his tailbone by the way she devours him, her hands dragging across his chest. “Fuck,” she curses again, nails biting into his skin. “Fuck, Barry, I want you so bad.”

He doesn’t know what to say. His words don’t tell her nearly as much as the groan that slips from his mouth before he can catch it. Her body is in his lap, though, and she watches his face with a hunger he’s never seen before as she rolls her hips down against him. It’s almost too much, but there’s no stopping them now, he thinks; the floodgates are open and they’ll drown in each other before the night’s through.

His head tilts back against the bed frame behind him, and suddenly her lips are on  _ his _ neck, sucking a little too hard. 

“Softer,” he bites out, feeling the immediate sting of a bruise pulled to the surface too quickly. “Hurts.”

“Sorry,” she breathes, and she kisses the spot before moving higher, and the now-gentle way she catches his skin between her lips makes his breath hitch. She ruts her hips over his erection again, and he swears. “But you need to get these off  _ right now _ , Bear”

“Yeah,” his hands rove over her back, and the soft press of her chest against his is just as maddening as the way her hips are so close. “Yeah, yeah.”

Lup pulls herself out of his lap, and the cold air latches onto him immediately. He shrugs out of his shirt, and he fumbles with his buckle for a moment. 

His hands shake, and Lup is suddenly close again. Her hands rest over his as he manages the belt, and she nudges him backwards. 

This time he steps back, and only a second passes between Lup pulling his slacks and underwear over his hips, him sitting on the edge of the mattress, and her dropping to her knees between his legs, but he hangs onto each second and feels his blood boil at the smile on her face.

“ _ Nice _ .” Lup grins up at him, and he wants to say something, anything really, but the words don’t come. “I knew you’d be packing heat, Bluejeans.”

“I’m—what?”

Her smile  turns wolfish, and her tongue runs over her canines before she continues: “You’re perfect.” 

One of those lovely hands wraps around him, then, and he nearly gasps. She twists over him slowly, ghosting lightly over his shaft and thumbing over his head. “I knew you’d be uncut.  _ Somebody _ owes me five dollars.”

Barry almost finds the words for the question he wants to ask, but she renders him speechless when she kisses the tip of his cock. Her smile is demure, and she blinks up at him with sparkling eyes as she asks: “Okay?”

His hands knot in the bedsheets. “Y-yeah, okay.”

Her next grin something else, and she takes the tip of him into her mouth, tonguing against his frenulum and lowering herself slowly.

One hand moves forward to card through her hair, and Barry scrambles to catch the bits of his composure as his mouth falls open with a quiet “ _ oh, _ fuck.”

Lup brushes the rest of his control off the table with a long sweep of her tongue as she laves attention over him. Her mouth is wet and warm, and she hollows out her cheeks with a soft noise and takes a few more inches of him into her throat.

He arches, the hand in her hair knotting into a gentle tug, and Lup drops the suction with a wet pop. 

His cock rests against her tongue, and when she moans, he twitches against her. The way she watches him, the little movements she makes even as she teases him, the desperate look in her eyes and in the set of her shoulders: it makes Barry weak. His hand shakes when he runs it through her hair. 

She looks at him, all bright eyes and sweet lips, and he rubs a thumb over her cheek, rolling his hips to slide his cock against her waiting mouth. “You look—wow.” He says, and Lup smiles a little before setting a rhythm, taking a little more of him with each bob of her head. 

He’s flustered and warm and embarrassingly close, and the next dip of her head nearly topples him over the edge. Barry manages to bite out a “Wait, s-stop.”

Lup pulls back slowly, and her lips over him as she asks. “You alright, Bear?”

Barry blushes. “I—” but Lup twists her hand over him, spit-slicked and quick, and he gasps.

“Am I gonna make you come, Barry?” She leans up and moves her hand a little more. “I think I’d really like to see that.”

“Fuck,  _ fuck _ ,” he pants back. She’s squeezing him just right; the dextrous twist of her wrist over his head threatens to bring him off with each long pull. 

She moves from her kneeling position to half-stand over him, one hand planting on the bed next to him as their foreheads tap together. Lup backs up just an inch, and the way she stares at him, mouth open and cheeks flushed, sends a twinge from his chest to his cock. 

“Show me what you look like when you come, Barry.”

One of his shaking hands comes up to cup her cheek, and he feels his brows pitch down as she tightens her grip. 

The strokes are near-perfect, and her hand is smaller than his but moves with a sure, firm repetition that tears a choked noise from his chest.

The realizations that Lup is jerking him off, that Lup is watching him, that  _ Lup wants to see him come _ hit him all at once, and climax slams into him like a train.

Barry moans, pitched-up and loud, and the surge of embarrassment only sharpens the waves of heat pulsing through him as he comes over his stomach and across her fingers. 

When he stops shivering and panting, he opens his eyes.

and  _ oh _ , he’s never seen that look on her face before. 

Her hand leaves his spent cock with a flourish of magic, and she clambers into his lap.

The next kiss sends him toppling backwards, and her hands run through his hair, over his shoulders, down his (ticklish) sides—

And Barry palms across the plane of her back, feeling the strength under her soft skin and the dimples at the base of her spine, she’s perfect, and he tells her so as he rolls them to hover over her. 

“You too.” Her smile doesn't falter, and Lup fumbles for just a moment with the pillows behind her back, and then her full attention is on him again. Her gaze is dark and heavy, and her next words come out soft: “Is, uh, it’s my turn now, right?”

Barry sits between her legs, her thighs resting lightly on top of his as they find an easy resting position. “Ab-absolutely.” He stammers only a little, distracted by the spectacular view. Barry finds his eyes wandering from the mottled bruises of her neck to her shoulder to the soft curves of her breasts and the small angle of her hips. 

Then, lower, to a spot that’s warm when he brings his hand to rest against her. 

She still has her panties on, but there’s a damp spot that he brushes his fingers over with a slow breath.

Lup grumbles an impatient noise when he moves his hands back to her hips, but she falls back into quiet anticipation when he tugs the last scrap of fabric down and tosses it towards the pile of clothes.

Her desire is palpable in the way her eyes train on him, and he swallows the syrupy lust in his throat to speak in sweet tones. “Lup, can you—?” 

Barry catches her hand gently and guides her down, eventually leading her to rest her own fingers against that warmth. “Can you, uh, show me what you do? It’s—It’s been a while, and…” he pushes on her hand, parting her lips and brushing her own fingers over her clit. “I want to know how to make you feel good.”

The tilt of her hips against her fingers is almost imperceptible, but the quiet gasp and the way her free hand fists against the sheets is not.

“Yeah,” she breathes. “Yeah, I can do that.” Her hand moves under him, sweeping in a slow circle over her clit. “Get ready for a show, Barry.”

Lup’s voice around his name still makes his heart pound, but the feeling of her hand under his distracts him immediately. She teases at entrance for just a second before swiping her wetness up over her clit, and the gestures command his attention. 

Barry follows her motions, his fingers a gentle pressure over her precice touches.

“Can you—” he says again, “can you feel that, too?” 

The magic that makes Lup  _ Lup _ is foreign to him, and there’s a buzz of nerves under his attention until she nods, open-mouthed and blushing. 

Their hands sweep over her again, dipping into her shallowly for just a moment, and Barry hums.

Lup gasps her own surprised sound when he slips a finger into her, leaving her hand to circle her clit while he touches her.

“More forward,” she instructs immediately, hips rolling against his hand. “And more, definitely more.”

“Okay, yeah, alright.” He says, and the way two of his fingers slip so easily through her wetness makes his face feel hot. There’s a spot inside of her that feels a little different from the rest, and he curls his fingers there and presses hard towards her navel.

“ _ Ahhn _ —” Lup claps a hand over her mouth as her body arches against his hand, and Barry immediately decides to do that again,

and again.

She still rubs two fingers over her clit, and the quick flicks she’s using—

He thinks suddenly about all of the times he’s dreamed about having his mouth on her, how hard he comes to the thought of tasting her on his lips, how  _ real _ of an option devouring her suddenly is. “Let me,” he murmurs, urgent and wanton, and he moves before she can respond. Barry repositions, resting his weight on one elbow and planting a hand on her hip as he lowers himself. 

Lup hesitates, moving her hand away from herself just enough that he’s able to lean in and catch her hand in his mouth.

Barry presses his tongue between her fingers, the taste of her sends a hot pang of arousal through him, and his body throbs. 

He feels her tighten around him, too, and she gasps a gentle “babe.” 

Her hand finds his face, this time, and he feels her nudge him closer. 

Barry licks her slow, curling his fingers as he drags his tongue over her clit, and he’s not sure if it’s better for her or for him as the warm, tangy taste of her fills his mouth. 

“Fuck,” he breathes, suddenly lightheaded and single-minded. “You taste so good, Lup.” 

She doesn’t respond with anything other than a studdering breath as he flicks his tongue over her clit, less slow and more deliberate, but he feels greedy for the sensation of it, and he mimes the quick flicks of her fingers with his tongue. Each taste of her makes him dizzy, and he thinks that the slick sensation of her against his mouth could bring him off if it weren’t so soon.

His body hums with interest, though, and the thought of licking her through an orgasm, feeling her shiver, _ tasting _ her arousal at its peak makes him moan against her again.

When he closes his lips over her with a gentle pressure, she nearly shouts. 

When he catches the bud of her arousal with the tip of his tongue and moves it with tight, controlled flicks, she does shout. One hand knots in his short hair as her hips buck against his mouth.

“Barry, Barry, fuck, yes, right there, just like that, _ fuck _ .”

He follows her direction, tapping rhythmically on her g-spot and working her over hard and fast with his tongue. It only takes a bit more to topple her over the edge, and her whole body locks up around him, thighs spasming around his head and body shaking with the force of her orgam.

He moans against her, tonguing her through the climax and revealing in the feeling of her cunt pulsing against his mouth. 

Barry stays in place, revling in the feeling of her coming down from her high. He knows they’ve made a mess of his face, but he can’t bring himself to care as he carries her though the aftershocks with kitten-licks and kisses across her lips. 

She mumbles an incoherent noise, rocking weakly against his hand as she trembles.

One of her arms is thrown over her eyes, and her blush warms her skin from the tips of her ears to her relaxed shoulders. 

Barry watches her for a moment as she regains her breathing, but he doesn’t  pull away; her hips still move minutely against his hand, and it’s with a slow, deliberate motion that he leans in again, pressing his tongue against her entrance as he scissors his fingers, slipping into her just slightly. 

Lup shivers and makes another mumbling sound.

“Is this — ” he breathes, interrupting himself with the compulsion to drag his lips back over her, kissing across her flushed arousal to the juncture of her thigh. “Is this alright?”

“Yuh-huh,” Lup responds, dropping her arm and looking down to him.

Her pupils are blown, her lips are damp and parted with heavy breaths, and her eyes flick from his mouth to the ceiling as he licks her again to see what happens.

“Nice,” she offers, rocking bonelessly against him as he rubs his thumb over her.

Barry feels a dull throb of excitement run through him. It should be too soon for him to be this worked up, but Lup gasps a small noise as he licks into her again, and he feels himself twitch with interest.

He’s tired, but that doesn't matter when she moves to rest a leg between his shoulders, guiding him closer with pressure from her heel as she mumbles a soft “wow.”

“Wow what?” Barry teases, withdrawing just enough to make her grumble.

“Wow, you’ve been holding out on me, Bluejeans.”

She pushes herself up on her elbows and looks down at him, craning her neck. “Are you hard again?”

He doesn’t expect her to be timid (this was Lup, after all, fiery, passionate, honest Lup,) but her scrutiny makes his cheeks flush.

“Oh gosh, that’s adorable.” She says, reaching to guide him forward. He lets her move him, moaning into the kiss she pulls him into and nearly melting when her tongue curls against his mouth. “Lookit you go, Bear.” 

It’s soft, lilting, and a little bit teasing, and Barry can offer her nothing other than a “Y-yeah, I guess, I, uh, like you a lot.”

“Mmm,” Lup responds, turning them to reposition with his back against the wall and kissing him deeply.

She tastes like ruined lipstick and sex, and Barry tangles a hand in her hair. It’s the nail in the coffin for destroying her carefully-styled locks, but the gasp he catches with his lips is worth the flyaways.

He breaks the kiss as she clambers into his lap, one leg on either side of his hips, and they have a long moment of eye contact. 

“You’re sure about this? About us?” She asks, wild lust put to the side for just a moment. Then, teasingly: “This changes things.”

Barry leans in and kisses the corner of her mouth. “Does it?” he asks, as sure as his love for her as he is that the sun will rise in the morning. 

“Uh, yeah, Barry.” Her smile is still wide, and she settles into his lap. Their chests press together, and he feels his cock slide against her thigh. She feels it too, and he almost misses the flash of nerves in her gaze.

But he knows her better than he knows himself, so the millisecond dip of her brows and slight shade in those bright eyes are beacons to him.

“I’ve —I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.” Barry runs a hand through her hair. “The, the, uh, loving you thing, that is. We don’t—we don’t need to have sex.”

Lup’s eyes widen. “Oh, god, no, Barry, I wanna ride you ‘till you can’t see straight. Don’t get me wrong.” He nearly chokes, but Lup continues: “I just… we took decades to get here. Is it silly that I feel like we’re moving too fast?”

It’s ridiculous, absolutely rediculous, and Barry has to temper his laugh as Lup’s brows rise slowly.

“No, no, h-holy shit, no, that’s not silly, but  _ holy shit _ .” He chuckles. “It took almost  _ forty-eight years _ for us to kiss, and then, uh, a total forty-eight hours to have sex.” 

She grins. “So we’re doing this, then?” 

Lup grinds over him, and Barry rests his hands on her hips, guiding them against each other. She re-angles herself, and his cock brushes across her entrance. The sensation sends a warm spark through him, and his voice comes out gruff: “Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Me too,” she says, and Lup cups his cheek as she sinks down onto him.

He draws her body as close as he can, and they’re silent except for their quiet breathing as he watches her face change. 

Her eyes are locked on him, too, and she settles, lips parted with a small “ah,” and a sparkling smile. “Nice,” she whispers, pulling her hair over one shoulder and cradling his jaw with her other hand.  

Barry splays his hands between her shoulders and rocks into her, reveling in the soft press of her body against him, the feeling of her flyaways tickling his skin as he kisses her neck, the warm sighs of her breath across his ear—

“Lup,” he sighs, and he shudders as she tenses around him, thighs tightening against his hips. 

She pulls away, eyes dark and panting hard as she rides him slowly, and she could light up the room with the way she smiles and responds: “Barry.” 

They move together, slow and warm. Each lift of her hips is languid, and they kiss with slow, intimate reverence. It’s sweet and soft, and he holds her close as they move together, but he knows it won’t be enough to finish him off; not after how she handled him earlier. 

Barry moves a hand from her back to her hair, catching her eyes with a questioning look that she meets with a smile and a wink. 

So he pulls, guiding her down, down, onto her back. One hand at her hip holds her steady as her legs wind around his waist, and she runs her nails down his back. 

He shudders and tugs her into a kiss, and he supposes he  _ shouldn’t _ be surprised when she mumbles “You can do better than that.” against his lips before she  _ drags _ her nails across his shoulders.

Barry gasps against her and yanks her hair on reflex, and he can’t get out his apology before Lup arches against him with a “ _ Fuck yes _ , Barry.”

His breathing comes more ragged, now, the slow pace she set and he continued suddenly incongruous with his new desire to hear her voice crack around his name. 

But it would be too easy, he thinks, to chase that bliss and let the moment end, so instead he presses into her at an even, steady pace and kisses her shoulder. “Is that how you want it?” He asks, a sing-song lilt slipping into his tone. The teasing is good-natured, and he pulls almost entirely out of her before resting against her entrance. “You want me to be rough?”

“You gonna deliver, Bear?” She licks her lips and taps her nails on his shoulders. “Or are you too love-stuck to rail me proper?”

He smirks and shakes his head. “No, that’s not it.” He punctuates the statement with another slow slide, and her eyes flutter shut. 

“What, then?” She asks, digging her heel into his hip. Barry is bigger than her, though, so her frustrated squirming gets them nowhere.

“‘Forty-eight years,’” he quips, “and you think I’d let us finish in a few minutes?”

Lup stiffens, and he drops his mouth to her ear. “I couldn’t do that, Lup, we can’t let it be that easy.”

Her voice is thin. “I guess I’m not surprised that you’re a huge tease, Nerd.”

He hums. Then: “I guess  _ I’m _ not surprised that you like things like this,” and he catches her ear between his teeth, biting sharply and immediately soothing the spot with his tongue. 

“Oh,  _ shit _ ,” Lup gasps, and he feels her spasm.

Again, then, he thinks, and pulls her hair to bare her flesh against his teeth, nipping and suckling all while keeping up a torturous pace. 

She seems to lose her quips somewhere along the way, and when Barry eventually pulls back from a particularly purple spot, he really gets a chance to look at her.

Eyes closed, mouth open, hands resting loosely near her face as her body moves slowly against him, Lup clings to every bit of sensation.

It’s the most beautiful expression he’s seen, and with Lup, that’s saying something. “I love you.” He whispers, untangling his hand from her hair to run his thumb over her cheek.

“Love you too,” she breathes back, leaning into his touch. 

Barry doesn't think he’s ever seen Lup so pliant, and there’s a brief swell in the already tidal-sized wave of his affection before he raises himself to pull her more completely against him. 

Lup cracks one eye at him, a question forming somewhere in her relaxed haze.

She doesn't get the chance to ask as he drops his hand between her legs, mimicking the quick flick of her fingers with his thumb and pushing into her until he’s buried to the hilt.

Her eyes fly open, and she sucks in a gasp of air. 

“Better?” Barry asks, because he suddenly doubts his ability to make a whole sentence. His skin feels hotter as he picks up the pace. She’s practically dripping wet around him, and it’s easy to speed up, to plow her into the mattress as her thighs tighten around his hips.

“Oh, oh, yes, fuck, yes, better,  _ Barry _ .” 

Her hands are on his shoulders again, nails digging into his skin as she matches his thrust with rolls of her hips. The angle must do something for her, because her brows rise and her eyes flutter shut as a noise gets caught in her throat. 

Barry moves the same way, chasing that expression, giving her what she wants, and he watches her winding like a spring. 

She’s beautiful, lovely, perfect, sexy, and he watches the tension build, feels his own climax coiling tight, listens to the sounds of her gasps as they bleed into moans that bleed into his name, chanted quietly as her eyes flutter shut. 

He’s close, so close, and she’s tight and warm and wet—Barry drops his lips to her neck and finds that spot near her pulse.

“B-Barry, Bear, I’m gonna come, I—”

“Yes, Lup,” He breathes, dizzy with the feeling of her and the sound of her voice against his ear. “ _ Fuck _ yes, please —” 

He presses his thumb over her clit, the next thrust topples Lup over her edge, and he  _ feels _ her spasming around him. A broken-off shout tears from her throat before she slaps a hand over her own mouth, whimpering against her fingers as she  _ shakes _ .

It’s all he needs to finish, and he rocks into her, pace slowed once more as she ruts her hips against him, dragging him as deep as she can and drawing his second orgasm to a long finish.

The room is quiet except for their ragged breathing, and Barry slowly pulls away, collapsing to the side and making no effort to keep the doofy grin from his face. Lup is watching him when he opens his eyes, and her ears lift with mirth as her own grin splits her face. 

He’s smiling too, and then he’s giggling, and the laughter is coming before he can stop it. Exhaustion and release and adoration and  _ relief _ all surge through him, and Lup laughs too.

“Holy  _ shit _ ,” he laughs. “Forty-eight years. Oh my god.” 

They get their laugher under control, and Lup rolls close, throwing an arm over his chest. Her fingers splay out over his heart. “It’s pretty funny, yeah. And, hey, I was serious about this changing things,” Lup says. “‘cus listen, Barry. If you think I’m  _ not _ gonna jump your bones all the time, you have another thing coming.” 

They lapse into silence for a few moments, and Barry feels his eyes drift shut. He shakes his head a little to get them to open again, and Lup giggles again.

She rolls away then, standing with a long stretch and gesturing towards the tiny bathroom. “I’m gonna wash all this makeup off my face before we knock out for a few hours. You good?”

“Better than ever,” he answers through a yawn, watching her fondly. “I’ll, uh, probably be asleep when you come out, though.” He blinks quickly again. “I, uh, might just die if I don’t go to bed soon though, so that’s okay.”

She sticks her tongue out at him, and he giggles again. “That’s fine. I’m gonna snuggle the hell out of you tonight. I hope you’re ready, Barry.”

“Oh, I’ve  _ been _ ready.” He responds, and Lup winks at him before swinging the tiny bathroom door shut. 

Barry lies on his back for a long moment, sated and sleepy, and stares at the ceiling. The moment feels like it could be a dream, and he briefly wonders if he’s going to wake up in his own bed a few hours from this moment. 

The sun rises early at Legato, though, and there’s already a blush of purple spreading across the black night sky. Barry shakes his head and rolls over, nesting into Lup’s sheets ( _ Lup’s sheets _ , he thinks again, because this is Lup’s bed and he’s in Lup’s room and he just made love with  _ Lup _ ), and he couldn’t force the giddy smile off of his face if he tried. 

He falls into a doze before Lup returns, hair pulled into a top-bun and clothed only in a ratty t-shirt. She slots herself into him easily; it isn’t the first time they’ve slept together, but it’s the first time without a mile of pretense between them. 

They changed things, Barry thinks with a smile. 

  
  


 

 

((Six hours later, he’s awoken by a single bang on the door. “Hey, nerds!” Taako yells. “Y’all better fucking brush up on your silencing spells!”))

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> <3!


End file.
